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After a long delay, Sony has launched Life with PlayStation, bringing a news and information channel to the PlayStation 3.

Sony has formally launched its Life with PlayStation service for the PlayStation 3, enabling PS3 owners to set up a news, lifestyle, and information channel right on their PS3 consoles. Initially, Life with PlayStation will feature a Live Channel with a world map interface, where users can access information based on place and time. Initial content includes news headlines from Google News, live camera images of almost 60 cities around the world, weather information from the Weather Channel, and cloud imagery provided by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center.

To tap into Life with PlayStation, users just need to click the Folding@home icon in the XMB's network column; it will update automatically to Life with PlayStation. Folding@home has been integrated into Life with PlayStation, and now enables PS3 owners to see where they stand alongside worldwide contributors to the protein-folding research project.

Users can rotate the Live Channel view of the Earth using their PS3 controllers, and zoom on on specific locations; when a city is selected, news headlines appear and users can select stories using the PS3's navigational controls. Life with PlayStation can also play music from a PS3's hard disk.

Sony says it plans to aggressively expand the range of services offered on the PS3, leveraging the system's connectivity and significant processing power to put new services an content into users' living rooms. Among new services expected to debut soon, the much touted PlayStation Home virtual world, in which PS3 owners can interact with each other in a simulated 3D environment, complete with avatars, homes, and in-world content.